Gardner adults sank swim team

Tuesday

Jan 29, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Dianne Williamson

Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke is a master of unrighteous indignation.

When Gardner High was stripped of its 2012 state sectional swim title for breaking the rules, the mayor publicly insisted that the team did nothing wrong and that the trophy would have to be pried from his “cold dead hands.” Rather than wrest the token from Hawke’s tenacious claws, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association banned the school’s winter sports team from postseason play, giving the mayor another opportunity to engage in hyperbolic overdrive.

“How can the MIAA have all this authority and be so vindictive against kids?” he asked, saying he’d shine the shoes and wash the car of the MIAA director if the board rescinded the punishment. “This is supposed to be about the kids.”

Hawke should have thought of that before adopting such a hawkish response to the MIAA. Instead, he seemed to be teaching kids that rules can be broken, that sanctions can be ignored if you don’t agree with them, and that actions have no consequences.

In Gardner and beyond, much is made of the fact that innocent kids are being punished for the petty actions of adults. It’s not fair, people cry, and they’re right. I’d be tempted to note that life isn’t fair, but no one needs a facile footnote in a tough situation.

They do need some perspective, though, especially those who characterize the issue as a stubborn feud between Gardner officials and the MIAA.

“They’re making a big deal out of nothing, and who is being hurt? The kids,” said Robert V. “Pete” Trudel, a Gardner merchant and former MIAA member. Resident Patricia Whalen, meanwhile, said she didn’t think the Gardner swim title should have been revoked in the first place.

“It’s not fair to the kids,” she said. “They swam and they won.”

The MIAA board ordered Gardner to return the swim trophy in October, after a finding that Gardner broke the MIAA’s “bona fide team” rule by allowing swimmers to skip school practices to attend club events. Gardner appealed and lost.

At that point, it didn’t matter a whit whether Hawke or anyone else disagreed with the MIAA decision. The trophy should have been returned. When it wasn’t, the MIAA had no choice but to penalize the school. (The MIAA has never issued fines.)

Since then, Gardner officials said they’re shocked, simply shocked, that the school has been sanctioned. I’m not sure why, and neither is MIAA spokesman Paul Wetzel, who said the organization sent several letters and emails to the school, reiterating its order and imposing at least two deadlines for the trophy’s return. He said no school has ever defied an MIAA ruling.

“This was unprecedented in the literal meaning of the word,” Wetzel said.

Keep in mind that the volunteer MIAA board is made up of school principals, athletic directors, superintendents and representatives of school committees. Gardner, by the way, had been on probation even before the school failed to return the trophy.

“It was a very tough vote for the board to take,” Wetzel said. “But these are adults used to a system that imposes penalties.”

Hawke now claims that his “cold dead hands” comment was a joke, but nobody’s laughing. He returned the trophy Jan. 17, the day after the MIAA sanctioned the school, but he was too late. He also urged the MIAA to “let my people go,” yet another demonstration that this guy doesn’t know when to shut up.

No winners have emerged from this sorry affair, but it’s no petty feud. It’s a case of adults behaving badly and failing to respect the rules. It’s a real shame that the students must suffer, but the ruling is just. And Gardner officials have no one to blame but themselves.